BillyBadAss

Have we discussed the fact that he resembles Gustavo Fring? I'm sure it's been mentioned, but I haven't read all the threads.

Just came back up in 49.. steady on about 10 minutes now, and AE just texted it's up. About 43 hours down. Woohoo!

Semi related.. we have a gas log starter in the fireplace. Do they make an insert you can just place over the log starter so you could easily convert back and forth to wood/gas? I was almost thinking to clean the ashes out and dump a bunch of lava rocks in there to run the gas all day if I ran out of wood..

We lost power about 3am ish the first night. We got it back for about 15 seconds last night, then something else blew. Glad I bought the kids new 40 deg bags for Xmas.. everyone stayed pretty warm last night.

Still out for me in 78749.. running low on firewood so hoping they can make something happen tomorrow.

If Dems have 213 seats, and you need 218 votes to elect the speaker - it seems plausible they could find 5 votes for some republican who is well-respected and not a shitbag? Maybe? Seems preferable to having McCArthy, already a shitbag and even more beholden to the nuts.

I haven't followed this closely - so ignorant question incoming, sorry if already discussed. Could the Dems band together to nominate some institutionalist and/or respected Republican and pull enough R votes to get them in?

Yeah, they just moved a few weeks back or so. And yes, ask for the returnable ones - you pay like a dollar or two deposit the first time on the bottles. They don't always have them, so might be worth calling ahead - I've only been using them a couple of months and a couple of times they've been out.. Hopefully they are more reliable in the warmer months. But so far it beats driving to different Walmarts and hoping they are in stock, and then filling up the recycle bin with tons of plastic.

PSA for those of you who use bleach for sanitization. I recently discovered that there are pool supply outfits that sell liquid chlorine (and acid) in returnable bottles they refill. I've been using Texas Pool Supply (recently moved from S First/71 to near 35/71) in S Austin.. It's not a retail place and I had to open a commercial account, but they haven't given me any trouble about it so far. It's just under $5 a gallon for 12% bleach. So far I've gone through about 24 gallons and it all was pretty fresh. 4 1-gallon bottles come in a plastic crate so they're easier to transport than individual bottles as well. You can find other potential dealers here: https://hasapool.com/dealer-locator/

My old shop vac bit the dust and I recently replaced it with one of these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-5-Gallon-5-0-Peak-HP-Portable-Wall-Mountable-Wet-Dry-Shop-Vacuum-with-Filter-Two-Locking-Hoses-and-Accessories-WD5500/100377372 It's smaller and has no wheels, but it has a wall mounting bracket so it doesn't take up space really, and it sucks really well. The hoses are pretty long and it has lots of attachments. So far I've used it to: - clean a broken glass - vac all the baseboards (w a long attachment so I didn't need to bend over) - vac the AC ceiling filter grates (again long attachment, didn't need a step stool) - clean pet fur from the couches - vac the stairs It's done all these tasks better than my Dyson ball, and the old shop vac was too large to jack with for these type of tasks for the most part. I'm gruntled with it.

Whole movie was contrived and barely made sense. Some decent action I guess. A few of the characters were likeable on their own, but the story was pretty dumb.

I get that's the general sentiment, but what does that mean to the day to day job of an APD officer? Is there more paperwork? New policies which tie their hands? Are they overworked due to staff shortages? Like what is actually different about being an APD cop today vs say 5 years ago. edit to add: I would guess being a cop anywhere in America sucks more than it did previously - they're all under a microscope post George Floyd + all the other incidents. But is Austin a "worse" place to work than other comparable city due to policies the city has enacted?

Some of the quotes from the article: “Mayor and City Council seems to have no idea how much their decisions have negatively impacted APD and the citizens of Austin. Employee morale among sworn staff is so low,” said one written APD survey response. “It will take some repair and more visibility from City Manager Spencer Cronk to show support/restore trust. So many are retiring early. Swift action is needed.” “At the earliest time I can leave this department and retire, I will and not look back. The city has trivialized my profession and completely destroyed this department,” an APD employee wrote. “I don’t know any of my fellow officers who are not currently ‘looking for a way out.’ I was once very proud to call myself a COA employee with the APD. Now, it’s a different story.” “This city doesn’t support its police department even slightly. The City Council (with the exception of a single member) has proven time and time again over the past two years you couldn’t care less about us, including our physical and mental wellbeing,” an APD employee wrote. What are the cops butthurt about specifically (serious question)? As in, what has the city council/mayor/manager done which resulted in such poor morale?

I didn't buy it. And to their credit they didn't really pressure me to. I said nevermind and cashier said okay. It was when I offered to return the case where I had gotten it that I detected the huffiness and they informed me they couldn't sell it. How about putting a fucking sign up with the price? Anyway, I'd generally assume a pool store would know more than I about sound business practices of selling pool shit, but it just seemed weird to me. Like does 12% bleach legally require different handling than 10% or something? I half thought to ask for an open box discount as I was walking out though.

I can't find liquid chlorine last weekend at Walmart or HD, so I pop into Lesley's. They have boxes with 4 1-gallon jugs. I can't see a mfg date on the box, so I open it one to pull a jug out to check. Go to the checkout and they ring me up - $40 (12% bleach). Walmart sells 10% for $5/gallon, so it's double the price, granted for stronger bleach. So I tell the cashier, sorry, nevermind, and start to pick up the case to return it back where I got it. They got huffy and told me they couldn't sell it now that the box was opened - store policy. And the other employee grumbles about not knowing why I opened it in the first place. Am I missing something, or is that some level of stupid? I imagine bleach jugs are always shipped in cardboard, and stores must open the boxes to put individual jugs on the shelves all the time. How the fuck would that "taint" it?

My take watching the review live was that it wasn't reviewable and the ref was trying to figure out a way to overturn because it was such a shit call.. that he made up the the bit about it being explained incorrectly so he could overturn it. By the time he figured a way out, he just went with it and neglected to review the safety, or decided in the moment that he'd already bent the rules a bit and left it at that. Have no idea if im right, but that's what I was thinking in the moment.

I don't know the stipulations on the buyout, but $15m is never need to work again money, if you're at all smart.. plus the what, 20-30? million he made while coaching here. Seems Tom won.

"FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

I put in a lot of new St Augustine in May after a pool build ruined half the lawn. Just in time for this mess.. Most of it is doing okay, but starting to die back in the no-shade areas now as you might expect. I'm torn between whether I should mostly stop mowing, let it grow longer to shade itself and retain what little moisture it's getting - vs - continue mowing weekly to encourage the roots to grow deeper. Any thoughts?

Curious, how did you calcium get high? Shocking with Calcium hypochlorite?

Btw, I don't think you need the app or wifi or anything, but I do regret not getting the caddy. Not the end of the world, but would be more convenient, for me at least.

Someone asked about robots, this is what I had figured out a bit ago.. @RMac5

I don't follow this stuff closely. Explain to me how the lesser schools cost the conferences money? Is it lost opportunity cost, or is it there some subsidizing going on? It seems like you have a game, you sell tickets. If the networks can sell advertising for ppl to watch, they televise the game and pay out a cut. If the program can't cover costs with ticket, merchandise sales, tv rev, donations etc then they would shit can the program. What am I missing?

My buddy runs his gsp about two miles twice a day, and lets it run free frequently. It still has more energy to spare. It's a cool dog, but not for me. This one is pretty aloof too. Not really interested in anything except hunting (birds, squirrels, lizards) and running. Cool dog but not for me.

I'm pretty averse to spraying poisons around my house/yard. I've had decent luck with this product surprisingly - it's all natural. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UJTBWE?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 It's a short term thing, lasts maybe a few hours, and likely only effective in small areas. But if I sprinkle it around the perimeter of my porch prior to guests coming over, it seems to help.